Everything happened so fast. Shane doesn't know what's going on and his ears are still ringing from the gunshots that pierced through the night air. All that was apparent to Shane was that he was on the ground in some dirty alleyway that reeked of death. His eyes couldn't focus in the low light because it felt as if he had suffered from a concussion, not to mention his lip was pulsing and he had a gigantic headache in his left eye.

He heard someone calling out to him, but it was just noise to him. Muffled, indistinct babble that sounded like someone stuffed his ears with cotton balls. Shane felt nauseous and dizzy in a single bound, too paralyzed to do much of anything like run away, or flail about for that matter. So when he was grabbed by an unknown figure in the dimly lit alley, Shane couldn't do much by way of protest with the exception of flinching slightly.

"Snnmm oomf eh!" The voice called out to him.

Shane looked up in the direction the voice was coming from and squinted past the darkness. It took everything to focus on the shadowy figure before him and when Shane's eyes finally adjusted he was greeted to the sight of a man with stern looking expression on his face. The man had ahold of one of his shoulders with a firm hand and was actively trying to jostle him to full awareness, but Shane could only loll his head in response as he faded in and out of consciousness.

The next thing he knew, a big hand flew out and slapped him hard across the face, knocking some sense into Shane. His eyes fluttered open in shock, immediately waking up as the sting set in and all the memories from before came flooding back to him. Suddenly, Shane remembered where he was and what night it was. Shane scrambled for purchase when he felt a hand grappling at his arm to keep him still. Shane's head swiveled up at the imposing figure and cowered instinctively.

"Snap out of it, kid!" The man repeated, more coherent this time.

Shane stared up at the man for a moment before he spared a glance around him, taking note of all the motionless bodies littered across the alley like garbage. They were all dead. Every single one of them were dead and it was all because of this man who was trying to shake some sobriety into him.

"Wh-what happened?" Shane stuttered, words slurring slightly since he still felt out of it.

"There's no time. We gotta move. Now," the man told him with a sense of urgency to his tone. "Gotta get you on your feet. Can you stand?"

"I'm not sure," Shane replied slowly, trying to soak in the situation as fast as he could.

"Well, you're gonna have to try, kid. And fast," the man said, scanning the area around them frantically.

Shane made an attempt to get his feet underneath him, but to no avail. He was too dizzy to do it on his own and his head felt like it weighed a ton to the point where he slammed back into the brick wall he was currently propped up against. Shane hissed as he fell back to the ground, groaning in frustration when his attempts were in vain. He just felt too sore all over, like his muscles were finally giving out on him. Shane wouldn't be surprised if the man just left him here to die, but the hand shaking him was insistent. For what reason, Shane wasn't sure.

"Come on, kid. I'm not screwing around," the man informed with caution, tone sounding clipped and somewhat nervous as he fidgeted around. "We're sitting ducks like this. Especially after all that noise I made to save your sorry ass."

"I can't…" Shane admitted, throat constricting as the fight to survive slowly drained from his body. "You're gonna have to leave me."

"Can that noise and get on your damn feet," the man demanded firmly.

When Shane didn't budge, the man huffed out a shaky sigh and holstered his weapon. He shuffled in close to the young man and lifted up one of his arms so he could situate his shoulders underneath. He wrapped Shane's arm across his shoulders and started to lift, hoping to hoist the kid in one go, but Shane was dead weight against him. The man wrapped an arm around the young's waist this time and tried again, in vain. He couldn't do it alone.

"Come on, son, you're gonna have to work with me here," he urged, pressing in close to the weak body beside him.

The next time he felt the man try and lift him up, Shane strained his entire body in an attempt to meet the man halfway. It didn't work the first time, but if they worked together long enough Shane could get back on his feet and leave the rest to his savior. The man pushed up with his shoulders again and Shane countered this by lurching his body forward. Shane was able to get one foot beneath him and the rest was pretty easy.

"That's it, kid. Keep pushing just a little more," he murmured into the side of Shane's face, huffing out a short triumphant laugh.

Now that Shane had one foot helping to prop him up, the man had a much more easy time trying to get the kid to stand on both of his feet. The man grunted as he used all of his strength to hoist Shane up. He could feel the young man trying contribute as he hissed in pain. The man didn't know why he stopped to save this kid in the first place. Whether this kid lived or died was obviously none of his business. For all he knew the young man had it coming and all he did was postpone the inevitable, but something about seeing Shane get roughed up and threatened made him pause.

After all, he used to be a sergeant. Serve and protect and all that horseshit that didn't matter anymore. He felt Shane lift up substantially and before he knew it the kid was on his feet, groaning his discomfort in his savior's ear. The sergeant was sure it wasn't supposed to sound so explicit, but seeing as how Shane was practically hanging off of him and he was making pitiful little noises, he couldn't help but find it strangely suggestive. He sighed when they were both finally upright and a wave of relief washed over him.

"There you go, kid. Nice and easy," the sergeant encouraged with a soft tone, but his posture said otherwise. Admittedly, he was getting antsy sitting in one spot. "Don't worry, I've got you."

"Where are you taking me?" Shane asked out of breath.

"Someplace safe," the man replied, propping Shane up as he pulled him along the alleyway. "Trust me."

Shane huffed out a weak laugh that was, what the sergeant could only describe as, sarcastic. Shane's legs buckled slightly as he strained to stay upright.

"Don't have much choice, do I?" Shane inquired rhetorically as he let the strange man move him towards aforementioned salvation. "Guess it doesn't matter either way."

The sergeant didn't respond, but rather focused on getting the young man to the safety of his armored car. There was only four hours of the purge left, but there was still plenty of room for error and the older man had no intention of dying tonight. Then again, he had no intention of saving this kid and taking him back to the safety of his own home. What the hell was he doing? He must have a death wish or something.

The next few moments are fuzzy for Shane as he's helped into the backseat of a nondescript car at the end of the alley. His savior tried to be as gentle as he could, but the angle was too tight and Shane ended up falling against the seats kind of hard. He winced slightly, but the feeling of actually laying down on a relatively soft surface paid off in the end and he slowly drifted off into unconsciousness as he heard the door slam and the engine fire up.

Shane only remembered the sounds of gunfire ringing off in the distance and the pull of the car chugging along as he was whisked away into an exhausted sleep.